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How to Use an Easy System to create Video Content Featuring Vikram Rajan
Episode 6428th August 2022 • Smashing the Plateau • Smashing the Plateau
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Vikram Rajan is the co-founder of Videosocials, a video blogging system for lawyers, accountants, consultants & coaches.

In today's episode of Smashing the Plateau, you will learn how you can use an easy system to create video content to increase your word-of-mouth referrals.

Vikram and I discuss:

  • What he learned about marketing to a niche [06:47]
  • Understanding the pain points of your niche [07:59]
  • Why is content creation an important marketing activity when you are selling your expertise [10:03]
  • Why a system is important for creating content [15:59]
  • How to identify a good system for your business [17:23]

Vikram is also the founder of Videosocials’ VIP service: Video Interview Podcast management for those who want to "just show up at show time!" And have all the time-consuming, annoying stuff done for them.

Learn more about Vikram at www.Videosocials.net.

Transcripts

Vikram Rajan:

I think that's the reason why we have to create systems

Vikram Rajan:

for anything, especially the things that don't come naturally to us and

Vikram Rajan:

the things that we don't really want to do, but we know we should be doing.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think content creation, writing articles, recording videos

Vikram Rajan:

for most of us who don't really enjoy doing it intrinsicly and what

Vikram Rajan:

we notice the right thing to do.

Vikram Rajan:

And like fitness, nothing bad happens if you don't go to the gym today or even

Vikram Rajan:

this week, or maybe even this month.

Vikram Rajan:

But if that becomes the bad habit of not going to the gym or not

Vikram Rajan:

creating the content over a period of time, bad things results.

Vikram Rajan:

Conversely, the good habits lead to good results.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Welcome to Smashing the Plateau.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We help consultants, coaches, entrepreneurs, and small business

David Shriner-Cahn:

owners build their business after a long career, as an employed professional.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We believe you should be able to do what you love and get paid

David Shriner-Cahn:

what you're worth, consistently.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm your host, David Shriner-Cahn.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Today, on Smashing the Plateau, I'm speaking with the co-founder

David Shriner-Cahn:

of Videosocials, Vikram Rajan.

David Shriner-Cahn:

In today's episode, you will learn how you can use an easy system

David Shriner-Cahn:

to create video content that can increase your word of mouth referrals.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Stay with us to hear all the details.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Do you struggle to take consistent action on things like

David Shriner-Cahn:

creating consistent content?

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As a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community you'll have access

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to a structured process for growth.

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where inclusive, direct, active and empowering conversations are welcome.

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Inside the Smashing the Plateau Community, you'll find a range of

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it alone, apply to become a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community.

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Learn more at smashingtheplateau.com.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Now let's welcome Vikram Rajan.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram is the co-founder of Videosocials, a video blogging system for lawyers,

David Shriner-Cahn:

accountants, consultants, and coaches.

David Shriner-Cahn:

He's also the founder of its VIP service video interview podcast management

David Shriner-Cahn:

for those who want to just show up at showtime and have all the time

David Shriner-Cahn:

consuming, annoying stuff done for them.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram, welcome to the show.

Vikram Rajan:

David, thank you for having me on

David Shriner-Cahn:

My pleasure.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Tell me a little bit about your career and what led you to start Videosocials.

Vikram Rajan:

It was just a series of, natural events, so to speak, of business.

Vikram Rajan:

I started off as a marketing consultant, one on one, after working alongside

Vikram Rajan:

my father, who is a management consultant, and I kinda learned the

Vikram Rajan:

ropes of consulting from him, but I wanted to focus more on marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

And so I basically turned to his referral relationships who were

Vikram Rajan:

mainly lawyers and accountants.

Vikram Rajan:

And since, they had essentially seen me grow up with my father.

Vikram Rajan:

A few of them trusted in me when I was a very young adult, to

Vikram Rajan:

become my first set of clients.

Vikram Rajan:

And I stuck with the world of lawyers, accountants, and consultants ever since.

Vikram Rajan:

And very quickly realized that as a one on one marketing consultant, there

Vikram Rajan:

was very little leverage of my time.

Vikram Rajan:

And so as I got busy, I needed to bring on someone else, who is my

Vikram Rajan:

current business partner, Mark Bullock.

Vikram Rajan:

So he and I, joined forces and we created a great partnership.

Vikram Rajan:

I essentially filled up his book of business and then we had to of scratch

Vikram Rajan:

our heads, what's next, as he was busy.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we created a service called phone blogger wherein we interview our clients

Vikram Rajan:

over the phone and turn what they say into optimized articles, written articles

Vikram Rajan:

for their blogs, their email newsletters, their social media, and, literally just

Vikram Rajan:

starting another phone blogger client.

Vikram Rajan:

this Wednesday spoke to her this morning.

Vikram Rajan:

She's, uh, an IP attorney here in the New York city area.

Vikram Rajan:

So that's growing and we have staff, that essentially handles

Vikram Rajan:

our phone blogger clients.

Vikram Rajan:

But as the world of video started taking over the internet, we

Vikram Rajan:

had to scratch our heads again.

Vikram Rajan:

this was before COVID.

Vikram Rajan:

So 2017 I wanna say is when Facebook, announced that they were changing

Vikram Rajan:

their algorithm to prioritize video in their, social media feed.

Vikram Rajan:

And then the following year 2018, that's when LinkedIn followed suit and

Vikram Rajan:

we're much more of a LinkedIn crowd.

Vikram Rajan:

And so when LinkedIn started prioritizing video, that's when we knew we needed

Vikram Rajan:

to get serious to help our clients, with the world of video blogging.

Vikram Rajan:

And they basically did not want to be on video.

Vikram Rajan:

this was before COVID.

Vikram Rajan:

So the concept of them being in front of a webcam all day, or at all was

Vikram Rajan:

completely foreign and uncomfortable.

Vikram Rajan:

So we needed to find a way much like phone blogger is a convenient way to

Vikram Rajan:

essentially author it in articles.

Vikram Rajan:

We need to find a convenient way, if not a fun way to bring our

Vikram Rajan:

kind of clients onto video and into the world of video blogging.

Vikram Rajan:

We said, what if we did like a Toastmasters type group or

Vikram Rajan:

mastermind a networking group type style and did it on zoom.

Vikram Rajan:

And again, this was before COVID, BC.

Vikram Rajan:

So people didn't really know what zoom was.

Vikram Rajan:

And we said, click this link and you'll join everyone.

Vikram Rajan:

And now of course we're all familiar with the concept.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we treated it like a networking group, except that instead of an elevator

Vikram Rajan:

pitch per se, or what you do for a living, people went around and these

Vikram Rajan:

were our initial phone blogger clients.

Vikram Rajan:

So they knew the, they understood the concept of talking about an article for a

Vikram Rajan:

couple of minutes, and we said, great, but just make sure you stare into that webcam.

Vikram Rajan:

So you're making eye contact.

Vikram Rajan:

And then after they record their two to three minute video blog, which we recorded

Vikram Rajan:

for them, of course, they would then get feedback from one of their peers of what

Vikram Rajan:

they said, what they could have said differently or say it in a different way.

Vikram Rajan:

And then of course, who do I know that it can share your video with would come.

Vikram Rajan:

And so that natural sharing came, to pass where turned into more of a community

Vikram Rajan:

than even a service, which of course a service is there to part one of video

Vikram Rajan:

socials or our video blogging clubs.

Vikram Rajan:

And then we've realized that we need to help our clients get these videos posted

Vikram Rajan:

and optimized with captions and, headline, end screen with your attorney advertising

Vikram Rajan:

disclaimers and all that stuff.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we hired programmers to create custom software.

Vikram Rajan:

And so here, long story, to a short question here we are with Videosocials

Vikram Rajan:

now with, video blogging clubs and our brander app that essentially

Vikram Rajan:

automatically posts, videos, onto our clients' own Facebook and LinkedIn

Vikram Rajan:

and YouTube and WordPress website, so it's video blogging together on.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram, what did you learn about marketing to a specific niche?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Cause it sounds like you were doing that from the beginning.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And it's something that many solo or very small businesses really struggle with.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm really curious to hear how you approach marketing to a specific niche.

Vikram Rajan:

I love it.

Vikram Rajan:

I think it makes marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

And traction that much more easy, especially if you work with the type

Vikram Rajan:

of clients that talk to each other and want to share resources as attorneys

Vikram Rajan:

do, attorneys are very specialized.

Vikram Rajan:

They actually can't even use that word, but they nonetheless are

Vikram Rajan:

specialized like doctors where they are constantly referring each other.

Vikram Rajan:

So they are their best referral relationships.

Vikram Rajan:

So they're constantly networking and sharing resources and

Vikram Rajan:

we go along for the ride.

Vikram Rajan:

So as we do a good job for our clients, they become our raving fans and they

Vikram Rajan:

themselves are part of a community professional associations, literally.

Vikram Rajan:

And so you can't be too niched because even within the world of lawyers,

Vikram Rajan:

there are specializations and they have their own special bar associations,

Vikram Rajan:

et cetera, not advocating necessarily people focus only on the legal niche,

Vikram Rajan:

but any kind of niche market, I think it makes marketing a word of mouth

Vikram Rajan:

that much more, faster and easier.

David Shriner-Cahn:

How does it make it easier to identify a particular pain point

David Shriner-Cahn:

that where you're gonna create a solution?

Vikram Rajan:

There's a natural market research aspect where, the easiest to find

Vikram Rajan:

out the pain point is to really ask your prospective clients or ask your clients.

Vikram Rajan:

But there is some to some.

Vikram Rajan:

You have to skate to where the puck is and you have to somewhat predict,

Vikram Rajan:

what their pain point will be.

Vikram Rajan:

It, it's the understanding that, horse and bug you to a car that no one

Vikram Rajan:

would've really asked for a horseless wagon, per se, they just said they

Vikram Rajan:

wanted more horses on their wagon.

Vikram Rajan:

and to some degree we still use horsepower for that reason.

Vikram Rajan:

And likewise, I think there's that famous anecdote Steve Jobs talking about the

Vikram Rajan:

iPod in that, people just wanted more and more songs on their Sony Walkman.

Vikram Rajan:

And so he had to figure out a way to help people understand that they

Vikram Rajan:

just don't want a bigger Walkman.

Vikram Rajan:

They just wanted a, an easier way of storying, more and more songs.

Vikram Rajan:

And here we have the iPod and all this evolutions.

Vikram Rajan:

So we have to predict, which is what Videosocials is kind of predicting,

Vikram Rajan:

knowing that our clients didn't wanna be on video, but we knew

Vikram Rajan:

it was the right thing for them.

Vikram Rajan:

And it's a good thing that we started in 2019, cuz we rode the wave one good thing.

Vikram Rajan:

At least that came from COVID was people knew that they needed to be

Vikram Rajan:

on video and we grew because of that.

Vikram Rajan:

So it's easier to understand and study your clients either from first

Vikram Rajan:

market research, first person market research with them telling you.

Vikram Rajan:

Or seeing, reading the tea leaves, so to speak.

Vikram Rajan:

And it's seeing what's the patterns.

Vikram Rajan:

If I think if our clients were in completely different industries, it's

Vikram Rajan:

harder to notice those patterns, our clients, there are not only attorneys.

Vikram Rajan:

We work with consultants and accountants and financial advisors, but they're

Vikram Rajan:

all very similar in the sense of professional services and subject matter

Vikram Rajan:

experts, et cetera, as opposed to.

Vikram Rajan:

Working with HVAC or retail and restaurants.

Vikram Rajan:

And then also lawyers.

Vikram Rajan:

I know some agencies do that.

Vikram Rajan:

I just don't know how they're able to really find the patterns in them.

Vikram Rajan:

I think actually that's really brilliant that by focusing on a

Vikram Rajan:

particular niche, it makes it much easier for you to find the patterns.

Vikram Rajan:

I think so.

Vikram Rajan:

It, it's the efficient way out of it.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Let's talk a little bit about your target

David Shriner-Cahn:

market and their pain points.

David Shriner-Cahn:

When you're selling your expertise, why is content creation an

David Shriner-Cahn:

important marketing activity?

Vikram Rajan:

I think historically it's not necessarily the content

Vikram Rajan:

marketing per se that they want.

Vikram Rajan:

Again, it goes to another kind of cliche that nobody buys the drill.

Vikram Rajan:

They buy the whole.

Vikram Rajan:

And in that concept, content marketing is a means to an end.

Vikram Rajan:

For them they recognize that word of mouth referrals is not literally the end.

Vikram Rajan:

I think the end point is of course client acquisition, but at least when

Vikram Rajan:

they think of marketing, they would even sometimes, say, and to this day, they'll

Vikram Rajan:

say, oh, I don't do any marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

I only, I, get everything through word of mouth referrals.

Vikram Rajan:

And, I don't wanna necessarily correct the prospect, but getting

Vikram Rajan:

word of mouth referrals is marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

Like how do you, so I'll ask, how do you get word about referrals?

Vikram Rajan:

And then they'll answer and they'll give you basically all their marketing plans.

Vikram Rajan:

And in that sense, content helps our clients get shared more effectively and

Vikram Rajan:

more easily, more efficiently, really through social media, but through their

Vikram Rajan:

website, through email and even per on person to person, face to face content

Vikram Rajan:

enables a conversation and referrals.

Vikram Rajan:

And so for us, content marketing can be used in a lot of

Vikram Rajan:

different ways as we do it.

Vikram Rajan:

So one aspect of content marketing is search engine optimization,

Vikram Rajan:

SEO getting high up on Google and inevitably our clients benefit from

Vikram Rajan:

the SEO benefits of content marketing.

Vikram Rajan:

But our focus is really on the word of mouth referrals, because if they, our

Vikram Rajan:

kind of clients, they're boutique firms, they're not getting their clients from the

Vikram Rajan:

proverbial yellow pages, either literally yellow pages or figuratively from Google's

Vikram Rajan:

version of the modern yellow pages.

Vikram Rajan:

But rather they're getting it from word of mouth.

Vikram Rajan:

usually there's always those kind of legacy and legendary stories of Hey,

Vikram Rajan:

yeah, I got a client from Google and that's cool, but by and large, they're

Vikram Rajan:

getting it from, let's say other attorneys or their past clients or even current

Vikram Rajan:

clients and content essentially greases the wheels, greases the gears of work.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So how does content grease the wheels?

Vikram Rajan:

I think by it gives other people a reason to talk about you and

Vikram Rajan:

a reason to share you with others.

Vikram Rajan:

it, there's no reason for me to suddenly start talking about my IP

Vikram Rajan:

attorney or start talking about the IP attorney that I know, especially

Vikram Rajan:

to a population that unless you ask me, Hey, do you know an IP attorney?

Vikram Rajan:

Okay.

Vikram Rajan:

That makes sense.

Vikram Rajan:

I'll bring it up.

Vikram Rajan:

that's a kind of a reactive referral, know, Dr.

Vikram Rajan:

Ivan Meister who started that very large networking group called BNI

Vikram Rajan:

has a concept of reactive referrals.

Vikram Rajan:

That kind of response versus proactive referrals, bringing things up, but then

Vikram Rajan:

there's even the pre-active concept.

Vikram Rajan:

The word pre-active is a word of bringing it up to an audience predictably saying,

Vikram Rajan:

most likely these people will want it.

Vikram Rajan:

And social media sharing is that way where you're, sharing someone because you think

Vikram Rajan:

someone else will find the same insight that you got from that person who wrote

Vikram Rajan:

the article or recorded the video blog.

Vikram Rajan:

So to answer your point, it basically enables me to

Vikram Rajan:

bring you up through content.

Vikram Rajan:

When otherwise ordinarily I may a have forgotten about you out of sight,

Vikram Rajan:

out of mind, or if I did see you or saw your name only, there's no reason

Vikram Rajan:

for me to now bring you up to others.

Vikram Rajan:

Or even for me to think about how I can utilize your service for myself.

Vikram Rajan:

But when you've given me a nugget of knowledge, it's an aha moment.

Vikram Rajan:

It's huh?

Vikram Rajan:

I never thought about it.

Vikram Rajan:

That.

Vikram Rajan:

And so for me, it could be a, I could be a prospect or I could be a

Vikram Rajan:

referral source and share someone else.

Vikram Rajan:

So conversely, that's really what you're doing when you're

Vikram Rajan:

sharing content with others.

Vikram Rajan:

You're basically giving them the easy ability to share you with others.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And I love the way you have broken it down into reactive

David Shriner-Cahn:

marketing, proactive marketing, and pre-active marketing, right?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Why is it important to have a system for creating content if you're

David Shriner-Cahn:

focusing on pre-active marketing?

Vikram Rajan:

Yeah, I think, ultimately a system is a inanimate way of talking

Vikram Rajan:

about habits and for us, a personal system hopefully becomes a habit.

Vikram Rajan:

And the beginning before it becomes a, an alpha rhythm habit where we do

Vikram Rajan:

things, unconsciously without thinking where it's just a part of our rhythm.

Vikram Rajan:

I think about fitness.

Vikram Rajan:

for some people they grew up playing sports.

Vikram Rajan:

They grew up watching sports for them to pick up a basketball

Vikram Rajan:

and play ball on the weekends.

Vikram Rajan:

That's normal, natural and habit to the point of a good addiction where if they

Vikram Rajan:

don't do it, they feel unfulfilled.

Vikram Rajan:

I am not that person.

Vikram Rajan:

For me, I've always had to force myself to get into the gym and create

Vikram Rajan:

all sorts of constructs from hiring a fitness trainer or creating some other

Vikram Rajan:

system, which basically means I need to force myself into the gym until I,

Vikram Rajan:

the endorphins and all the hormones.

Vikram Rajan:

And I'm not a biologist to understand all of the mechanics, but I do know that

Vikram Rajan:

I do feel good after going to the gym.

Vikram Rajan:

I have to remind myself that and that it, once it becomes a

Vikram Rajan:

habit, then the system takes over.

Vikram Rajan:

I think that's the reason why we have to create systems for anything, especially

Vikram Rajan:

the things that don't come naturally to us and the things that we don't really want

Vikram Rajan:

to do, but we know we should be doing.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think content creation, writing articles, recording videos for most

Vikram Rajan:

of us who don't really enjoy doing it intrinsically, but we know it's

Vikram Rajan:

the right thing to do and like fitness, nothing bad happens if you

Vikram Rajan:

don't go to the gym today or even this week, or maybe even this month.

Vikram Rajan:

But if that becomes the bad habit of not going to the gym or not

Vikram Rajan:

creating the content over a period of time, bad things results.

Vikram Rajan:

Conversely, the good habit is lead to good results.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we create a system for our clients where we know we wanna

Vikram Rajan:

keep it easy on their time and hopefully even fun so that they are,

Vikram Rajan:

productively addicted to the process.

Vikram Rajan:

So basically it becomes fun and done for them and that they look forward

Vikram Rajan:

to doing it as opposed to dreading or drudging, because ultimately.

Vikram Rajan:

That's when procrastination sets in and we find other things to do, which you

Vikram Rajan:

know, scrolling on social media is, can be easily distracted and we're trying to

Vikram Rajan:

get our clients to post on social media.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I wanna go actually, and dig a little deeper into the idea of

David Shriner-Cahn:

creating a system for content creation.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

There are a lot of different types of content, like you

David Shriner-Cahn:

specialize primarily in video.

David Shriner-Cahn:

There are a lot of different types of content and there are a lot of different

David Shriner-Cahn:

channels for producing and distributing content and there are a lot of different

David Shriner-Cahn:

ways of creating systems for a business.

David Shriner-Cahn:

How do you put all these pieces together and figure out what is the

David Shriner-Cahn:

ideal system, particularly when it comes to getting started with content.

Vikram Rajan:

So we, first and foremost, we focus on video nowadays because

Vikram Rajan:

that's what the algorithms want.

Vikram Rajan:

Google owns YouTube.

Vikram Rajan:

So Google prioritizes video in what we in the marketing world have dubbed, position

Vikram Rajan:

zero, meaning over and above even the first position, cause YouTube clips are

Vikram Rajan:

above search engine results on a page.

Vikram Rajan:

So that's first of all, all right.

Vikram Rajan:

That's our goal is what we want to basically get our clients

Vikram Rajan:

quote, unquote, addicted to, but in a good way, productive.

Vikram Rajan:

And so our concept was how can we make it collaborative, cooperative

Vikram Rajan:

and, relationship focused since that's what they want also.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we knew when we wanted to create Videosocials, we had the phone

Vikram Rajan:

blogger system already in place.

Vikram Rajan:

We still do where it's a one-on-one telephone conversation.

Vikram Rajan:

And it's a rhythm where they know they're gonna have a phone call once a

Vikram Rajan:

week with their editor or every other week with their editor, depending on

Vikram Rajan:

how many articles they're producing.

Vikram Rajan:

So it's a systematic appointment driven concept, same thing.

Vikram Rajan:

We wanted something appointment driven.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause if it's in their calendar, if it's in our calendar, we're more apt to do it.

Vikram Rajan:

As opposed to I'll go to the gym whenever I feel like it

Vikram Rajan:

and never actually going in.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause someone like me never feels like it.

Vikram Rajan:

So if I have an appointment with a fitness trainer, even if I don't

Vikram Rajan:

really feel like it I'll do it.

Vikram Rajan:

And then hopefully the hormones will kick in and I'll like it and then

Vikram Rajan:

eventually I will like it if the trainer is good at the, his, or her job.

Vikram Rajan:

And so with us, the first beginning of the system is the appointment.

Vikram Rajan:

You gotta set aside time in your calendar.

Vikram Rajan:

It's the only way things get done.

Vikram Rajan:

So for us, it was like, what are we gonna do in that appointment?

Vikram Rajan:

We say 45 minutes.

Vikram Rajan:

I actually originally wanted half an hour that wanted it short and sweet.

Vikram Rajan:

We had to extend it to 45 minutes, but I said, look, we

Vikram Rajan:

can't have it more than an hour.

Vikram Rajan:

We could just sit in front of a computer or a webcam for more than an hour for me.

Vikram Rajan:

Just, just horrible sounding.

Vikram Rajan:

So now of course, ironically, a year later we spend all day on our

Vikram Rajan:

webcam, whether we wanted to or not, but nonetheless 45 minutes session,

Vikram Rajan:

we wanted to purposely keep it small about six, seven people at a time.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause we knew that was very interactive and just an right number

Vikram Rajan:

of people, that magic number seven.

Vikram Rajan:

Where it was just the right amount of interactivity to keep it fun and

Vikram Rajan:

interesting where people are learning from each other and sharing notes and

Vikram Rajan:

feedback on each other's video blogs.

Vikram Rajan:

But it wasn't so large that we ran out of time, but it wasn't so small

Vikram Rajan:

where it was a downer of energy.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we just arbitrarily picked kind of the number five to seven.

Vikram Rajan:

There was no real science other than Hey, let's try that.

Vikram Rajan:

And it made sense for it to be closer to seven and eight instead of five.

Vikram Rajan:

And so that was kinda makings of the system for us to know.

Vikram Rajan:

And then we had to systematically manage what happens in the 45 minutes of how

Vikram Rajan:

do we get people in the right mindset.

Vikram Rajan:

So we begin ceremoniously ritualistically with kinda, we essentially have someone

Vikram Rajan:

repeat the motto and the credo of what we're here to do so that we basically

Vikram Rajan:

are training our brain to go, all right, for these 45 minutes, we are in a room

Vikram Rajan:

to create content, to create video blogs.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we had to architect what a video blogging club.

Vikram Rajan:

Is and was because there's no other thing.

Vikram Rajan:

Now, luckily we were able to watch and learn from other modalities.

Vikram Rajan:

We were able to see what does Toastmasters do, which is essentially an in-person

Vikram Rajan:

club to PR to help with public speaking.

Vikram Rajan:

My business partner was president of one of the largest Toastmaster club out

Vikram Rajan:

in Hawaii, the largest one in Hawaii.

Vikram Rajan:

So we were able to kinda learn from their model.

Vikram Rajan:

We were able to learn from networking groups.

Vikram Rajan:

We were able to learn from mastermind coaching communities.

Vikram Rajan:

And so we didn't just make things up.

Vikram Rajan:

We synthesized to prior models, knowing that, all right, this is

Vikram Rajan:

how a meeting can probably go.

Vikram Rajan:

And, the first two, three months, it was a very much a learning and tweaking.

Vikram Rajan:

And then we realized we needed that part too.

Vikram Rajan:

As I mentioned, David, up of, we needed an automation system.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause it's like our clients were all dressed up with their videos, but

Vikram Rajan:

nowhere to go with them and for them, for us to help them post the videos,

Vikram Rajan:

one on one became really arduous.

Vikram Rajan:

We would do it for them.

Vikram Rajan:

That became a hamster wheel that we didn't enjoy so we had

Vikram Rajan:

to figure out an automated way.

Vikram Rajan:

So we had to learn from other systems, would be an easy way for us to say

Vikram Rajan:

it and then tweak it to something that is much more catering to our

Vikram Rajan:

type of clients and what they want, where it's fun, but not silly.

Vikram Rajan:

Cause these are serious topics.

Vikram Rajan:

These are serious attorneys dealing with serious issues.

Vikram Rajan:

But during the video itself, they're talking about very serious topics

Vikram Rajan:

of matrimonial or bankruptcy or real issues of IP issues of business law.

Vikram Rajan:

So these are not silly TikTok dance videos.

Vikram Rajan:

These are substantive video blogs that are really about their

Vikram Rajan:

expertise, but we clap for each other.

Vikram Rajan:

And that's one of those releases where it feels a little silly to do.

Vikram Rajan:

But we all get into the spirit of clapping for each other, because we are

Vikram Rajan:

encouraging each other to do something that ordinarily left to our own time

Vikram Rajan:

management we probably wouldn't do.

Vikram Rajan:

That goes back to the right.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And I love there's some elements of your system that are

David Shriner-Cahn:

very different than many other systems for creating content on a consistent

David Shriner-Cahn:

repeated basis, which is that it's appointment driven, it's mindset driven.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And in particular, it's driven by having a curated peer group that

David Shriner-Cahn:

does learning and support together.

Vikram Rajan:

Correct!

Vikram Rajan:

I think those are great great.

Vikram Rajan:

Sorry.

Vikram Rajan:

Thank you.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So Vikram, what do you see coming up?

David Shriner-Cahn:

now that, we're a few years into Facebook and then LinkedIn.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Changing their algorithm to favor videos and we're two and a half years into our

David Shriner-Cahn:

change behavior as a result of COVID.

David Shriner-Cahn:

What do you see coming up in the world of content creation for particularly

David Shriner-Cahn:

for, experts and primarily solo experts?

David Shriner-Cahn:

So I think there is a long term on the horizon.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Which I won't spend a lot of time, but we know it's coming.

Vikram Rajan:

We know the metaverse is going to take over.

Vikram Rajan:

We know virtual reality and augmented reality is going to be there, whether

Vikram Rajan:

we like Zuckerberg or not, or agree with Facebook or not politics aside

Vikram Rajan:

or personality aside, these guys are visionaries and we know inevitably

Vikram Rajan:

as hokey and weird as it sounds.

Vikram Rajan:

The metaverse of living in a virtual reality world.

Vikram Rajan:

It sounds as weird and foreign as being on zoom all day or

Vikram Rajan:

being on our cell phones all day.

Vikram Rajan:

Would've sounded to someone in the 1980s.

Vikram Rajan:

We would've been like, this is ridiculous.

Vikram Rajan:

So I'm not gonna carry a briefcase and hold this giant briefcase, to my head.

Vikram Rajan:

but here we are 20 years later where the devices have gone from a briefcase

Vikram Rajan:

down to literally in our pocket.

Vikram Rajan:

And so Oculus being one of those giant goggles sounds and

Vikram Rajan:

feels ridiculous at least to me.

Vikram Rajan:

But I think in, I think in coming years, it will turn into something

Vikram Rajan:

much more portable and usable.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think it's going there.

Vikram Rajan:

So that's 10 years, but closer to home, David, the reason we actually

Vikram Rajan:

ended up creating a VIP service was really because of our members.

Vikram Rajan:

We started noticing over the summer, last summer of 2021, a good percentage

Vikram Rajan:

of our members started talking about their interview show that they had

Vikram Rajan:

launched essentially unbeknownst to us.

Vikram Rajan:

Not that they have to disclose all their marketing to us, but they didn't ask us

Vikram Rajan:

permission, help, approval, idea, input.

Vikram Rajan:

They just did it.

Vikram Rajan:

They would basically have a zoom meeting with someone and they

Vikram Rajan:

would record it for YouTube.

Vikram Rajan:

And they'd basically be interviewing one of their potential clients or referral

Vikram Rajan:

relationships and it would become their web series or their video show.

Vikram Rajan:

They called a variety thing, or they would just call it a podcast, even if it's

Vikram Rajan:

not literally on the podcast platforms.

Vikram Rajan:

And they would basically record a video blog about their latest episode.

Vikram Rajan:

And that's how we started getting to know about their shows.

Vikram Rajan:

And this was, they had not like one or two.

Vikram Rajan:

This was literally like a good 10, 20% of our members.

Vikram Rajan:

And so it was very noticeable where it was time and time again, at

Vikram Rajan:

least one or two people per club.

Vikram Rajan:

We started noticing a pattern and then coincidentally, around the same time

Vikram Rajan:

our members started asking us for help.

Vikram Rajan:

How do they get that YouTube video show into apple podcasts?

Vikram Rajan:

Or how did they get their podcast into their email newsletter?

Vikram Rajan:

And we started realizing that a lot of our clients, our members wanted to create

Vikram Rajan:

this longer form content, but in the form of an interview, especially with

Vikram Rajan:

their referral relationships, because it was a form of extended networking.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think it was sign of the times that they were itching

Vikram Rajan:

for more deeper networking, but they couldn't do it one on one.

Vikram Rajan:

They couldn't do it face to face.

Vikram Rajan:

I should say, obviously it's one on one, much like what we're doing, David,

Vikram Rajan:

but they couldn't do it in person.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think the craving was there to the point where so many did it on their own

Vikram Rajan:

and that's just our members let alone this Renaissance of podcasting, in general.

Vikram Rajan:

And so as our members started asking us for help, we realized, I realized

Vikram Rajan:

that, my staff does everything for me and my show pretty much running

Vikram Rajan:

it where I show up at showtime, why don't we just do that for our members?

Vikram Rajan:

it was like a duh moment.

Vikram Rajan:

duh, why don't we just say, duh, why don't we just do it for our clients?

Vikram Rajan:

And that's when occurred to us where yes, we wanted video-centric it's Videosocials,

Vikram Rajan:

but also because the algorithms, including YouTube all want it to be video.

Vikram Rajan:

We want it to be an interview.

Vikram Rajan:

We don't want this just to be an extended blog or an extended video

Vikram Rajan:

because two or three minutes of a talking head is okay, but when you get

Vikram Rajan:

to something like a half an hour, like much like we are doing, it's auditorily

Vikram Rajan:

more interesting and visually more interesting when it's more than one voice.

Vikram Rajan:

We see that on TV even.

Vikram Rajan:

And that, of course we want the podcast platforms, cause that's a

Vikram Rajan:

whole new marketing channel that we weren't opening up for our clients.

Vikram Rajan:

And deliciously, that's spelled VIP Video Interview Podcast, and as a marketing guy

Vikram Rajan:

and as a poet, it's irresistible for me to find a good, TLA three letter acronym.

Vikram Rajan:

So VIP was born.

Vikram Rajan:

So Videosocials, VIP.

Vikram Rajan:

Nice alliteration.

Vikram Rajan:

We basically brought it up to our clients, kinda Hey, why don't we

Vikram Rajan:

just run this whole thing for you?

Vikram Rajan:

And you just show up at showtime.

Vikram Rajan:

And we did that in December of 21 by January, we're already

Vikram Rajan:

running two or three podcasts.

Vikram Rajan:

We're now up to almost 20 video interview podcast for our clients.

Vikram Rajan:

So I think to answer your, again, short question with a long answer.

Vikram Rajan:

I think as an interim, I think the long form content, but more video interview

Vikram Rajan:

podcast oriented, where you can listen to the audio as a podcast, but watch it, over

Vikram Rajan:

lunch for a video or listen to it on your commute is this new evolution, this new,

Vikram Rajan:

obviously in the extension for me, but it's something I've been doing for years.

Vikram Rajan:

Something you've been doing for years.

Vikram Rajan:

but something that I think has become very much part of the mainstream and

Vikram Rajan:

kind of that the very trendy area of content marketing, especially

Vikram Rajan:

because that collaborative aspect.

Vikram Rajan:

I'm looking forward to this episode, coming out.

Vikram Rajan:

I'm looking forward to sharing this episode on to my network.

Vikram Rajan:

Thank you again, David, for having me on it's a feather in my cap to

Vikram Rajan:

be honored, to be on your show.

Vikram Rajan:

And I think for every one of our clients, their guests, likewise see it as an

Vikram Rajan:

honor to be on our clients' shows.

Vikram Rajan:

And so their guests are excited to share their episode with their circle

Vikram Rajan:

of influence, which in turns markets my clients, markets, their shows,

Vikram Rajan:

but markets, their practice as well.

Vikram Rajan:

So I'm looking forward to sharing this episode to my circle for

Vikram Rajan:

them to get to know you David and get to know your community and

Vikram Rajan:

get to know the show at large.

Vikram Rajan:

And

David Shriner-Cahn:

yeah, no, it's really brilliant.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram we've covered a lot of territory today.

David Shriner-Cahn:

If someone wants to go deeper with anything that you've shared or access

David Shriner-Cahn:

any resources that you have, where would be the best place for them to go?

Vikram Rajan:

The easiest place is my website.

Vikram Rajan:

If they go to Videosocials, plural, videosocials.net, and the bottom

Vikram Rajan:

right hand corner will be a chat box.

Vikram Rajan:

It's not a bot ,BOT, it's a box and that chat box goes straight to my cell phone.

Vikram Rajan:

So if they wanna type in a chat message, if I'm not available, of

Vikram Rajan:

course they could put their email in, but it goes through my cell phone and

Vikram Rajan:

we can basically text right there.

Vikram Rajan:

They can look me up on LinkedIn.

Vikram Rajan:

I'm pretty easily found on social media, as you can imagine.

Vikram Rajan:

But videosocials.net is easy.

Vikram Rajan:

You can come as a free guest to one, our video blogging clubs, you can get

Vikram Rajan:

to the VIP area videosocials.vip is specifically for video interview podcasts.

Vikram Rajan:

but they'll get to know me, get to know our video blogging clubs and

Vikram Rajan:

get to know our members that way.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Sounds great.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Vikram I wanna thank you so much for taking the time to

David Shriner-Cahn:

join us today on Smashing the Plateau and share your insights.

David Shriner-Cahn:

My guest has been co-founder of Videosocial, Vikram Rajan.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Thank you again, Vikram for joining us.

Vikram Rajan:

Thank you again, David.

David Shriner-Cahn:

When you visit the Smashing the Plateau website, you'll

David Shriner-Cahn:

find a summary of each episode, along with the links we mentioned on the show.

David Shriner-Cahn:

On today's episode with Vikram Rajan, we learned how you can use an easy

David Shriner-Cahn:

system to create video content that can increase your word of mouth referrals.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Do you struggle to take action on things like creating consistent content?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Would you like to be part of a structured, supportive process to help you implement

David Shriner-Cahn:

ideas that you know will help you move the needle toward your goals.

David Shriner-Cahn:

As a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community, you'll have access

David Shriner-Cahn:

to a structured process for growth.

David Shriner-Cahn:

You'll also be a member of a community that's built to be a safe, caring place

David Shriner-Cahn:

where inclusive, direct, active and empowering conversations are welcome.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Inside the Smashing the Plateau Community, you'll find a range of

David Shriner-Cahn:

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David Shriner-Cahn:

and answers to your burning questions.

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If you are committed to getting your consulting, coaching, or small business

David Shriner-Cahn:

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David Shriner-Cahn:

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David Shriner-Cahn:

it alone, apply to become a member of the Smashing the Plateau Community.

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Learn more at smashingtheplateau.com, where we have additional resources to help

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We believe you should be able to do what you love and get paid,

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David Shriner-Cahn:

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David Shriner-Cahn:

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